


"Did you ever doubt your dreams will ever come true?"

by natigail



Series: Phan Reality One Shots [1]
Category: Phandom/The Fantastic Foursome (YouTube RPF)
Genre: 2013!Phan - Freeform, Ambiguous Relationships, Best Friends, M/M, but also Dan is so self-reflective, it's very fluffy, there's like one curse word from dan, this was my very first phanfic, younow
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-02-26
Updated: 2017-02-26
Packaged: 2018-09-27 02:28:41
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,534
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9946133
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/natigail/pseuds/natigail
Summary: As Phil reads out the question, Dan’s involuntary reaction is to smile and glance towards him. He hides it pretty well during the live show but as soon as it’s over, he begins to fully appreciate that his dream did come true.





	

_The idea for this one shot was inspired by[this rant](http://natigail.tumblr.com/post/150353683717/plester-4807) in a Dan live show from September 2016. It's based on [this exact moment](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5lnWNJD8ZK8) from an old joint live show from 2013_

 

**_9th of May 2013_ **

“Did you ever doubt that your dream will ever come true?” Phil reads out in the chat.

It is a calm Thursday evening, which they had just established was Phil’s favourite day of the week – Dan prefers not to lock down on any type of favourite.

Dan had not expected that question after being asked to choose between hamsters or lions and Death Note or Game of Thrones. It is a High School Musical lyric, of course… but that isn’t what makes Dan grin.

A smile creeps up on his lips and his eyes glance over at Phil, who seems oblivious to the lyric reference.

Without knowing that, it’s a pretty serious question and Dan quickly informs Phil that it’s Bet On It lyrics and they have a laugh. However, as soon as the live show ends, he finds his mind drifting back to that moment.

He couldn’t very well contemplate it in front of thousands of their viewers but it’s worth some thought and throughout the live show, it’s been turning the wheels in his head. It’s stupid, as much as he likes High School Musical it’s just a movie and that line is cheesy as hell.

But he thinks back to his involuntary smile and how he couldn’t stop his eyes from glancing in Phil’s direction, even if he had wanted to. He has always been a deep thinker and he knows that was probably why he’s been in an almost constant state of existential crisis since dropping out of university.

But here he is at 21; living in London with Phil, have a weekly radio show on BBC Radio 1 and over 1 million YouTube subscribers. It is the dream. It is the creative life he had gone in pursuit of when he dropped off the safe path, which was making him unhappy.

And it is all because he had started watching AmazingPhil back in the day. Back when he was sixteen-year-old kid and hadn’t dared to start a YouTube channel, even though he wanted to. And now he has around the double of Phil’s subscribers, which feels wrong. Clearly, people know nothing about quality. Phil is still his favourite YouTuber, even after all these years and he’s so underrated.

It had taken meeting and befriending Phil to convince him that people would listen to him and that he would be capable of creating content that was worth watching. Dan would never be able to repay Phil for that.

“Are you okay, Dan?” Phil asks him and steps back into the lounge.

Their lounge. Their flat. In London. A home that Dan shares with the most important person in his life.

“You were talking to yourself,” Phil says with a kind tone.

They’ve lived together for so long that he doesn’t even question it anymore when Dan walks around and talks to himself. But he’s sitting on the sofa still and has yet to move since ending the live show.

Dan thinks back to all the comments and replies that he would leave on Phil’s videos and tweets. He still isn’t sure how he had gotten lucky enough for Phil to give him the time of the day.

They are similar in a lot of aspects but at their core, they have very different personalities. As individuals, they are one thing and together they are another. Dan’s swearing mouth, crushing self-doubt, self-deprecating humour and deep ponderings are contrary to Phil’s apparent innocence, generous heart, funny puns and quick mind.

Phil is so good-hearted, precious and adorable that Dan feels privileged to have him around all the time. He literally lives with the sun as some of their subscribers joke.

At once, Dan stands up only to almost fall over as he experiences a big head rush.

Phil rushes forward as to catch him but only manage to knock into the table with his shin and exclaim in pain.

Dan laughs while he gets over the head rush. Phil’s clumsiness doesn’t take a day off.

“I’m okay,” he says with a small smile as he stares at Phil.

“Good because I might need you to get me to the hospital,” Phil jokes and strokes his bashed chin. “You looked like you were about to pass out.”

“I was,” Dan says with a chuckle.

He steps around the table and pulls Phil into a hug. Phil awkwardly pats his back but then wraps his arms around the younger boy and holds him. This is such an unlike Dan and out-of-the-blue affection that it catches Phil off guard.

“I didn’t even manage to help you, Dan,” Phil says, thinking it might have been his attempt at being heroic that prompted this behaviour but he’s not so sure.

Dan lets go slowly and shoots Phil a look as if he’s a complete idiot.

“What?” he asks Dan.

“Do you ever think about how were living the dream? Our channels are going better than ever. The BBC gave us our own weekly radio show. We live in London!” Dan talks so fast that Phil hardly catches the specifics of what he says but he gets the gist of it.

“And I have a someone to share it all with… you, Phil Lester. I didn’t have a best friend for the first eighteen years and then you came into my life and if you hadn’t told me to start posting videos… I don’t even know what I would be doing but I do know I would not be as happy as I am right now.”

Dan’s breathing deepens as he’s ranting and getting these things off his chest.

Phil just looks at him and listens. He knows exactly what Dan means. He never honestly thought he’d leave Manchester or work for the BBC or get over half a million subscribers. He never ever imagined a future like this but Dan is right, it’s the dream.

But looking at Dan now, the smart young man in front of him, he feels more pride in gaining his friendship and helping him cultivate his voice. Phil realised pretty quickly that Dan was something special.

Dan never thinks it of himself but he’s so likeable and he has this ability to captivate people, even when he’s just speaking off the cuff. If Phil can take even a little bit of the credit for all the things Dan has gone on to create, he will gladly do so.

“It is pretty incredible,” Phil agrees and now it’s his turn to reach out and pull Dan into a hug. “And to think when we moved here less than a year ago, it was all on a hunch that things would work out.”

“Thank fuck, it turned out to be a pretty good hunch,” Dan says with a chuckle. “Dan and Phil have gone on to do some pretty amazing things. Sometimes, I don’t even believe those guys are us.”

Dan or danisnotonfire. Phil or AmazingPhil. Dan and Phil or Phan to the shippers.

They’re just two guys. Two guys who are remarkably similar in some aspects and complete opposites in others. Phil thinks that’s why “Dan and Phil” works so well.

They bring out different sides of each other and often challenge each other’s viewpoints and use each other to gain a better understanding of how to see the world. They respect each other’s interests, even if they could never share them and all the little quirks they each have, which can sometimes be annoying, are entirely accepted.

Sure, there’s teasing and banter between them. They play well of each other but it all stems from a deep connection between the two British boys that neither of them can fully explain.

Maybe, it’s because they’ve been through so many things together. Maybe, it’s because they’re each other’s first best friends and they’ve both decided they never want to fall out. Maybe, it’s because their jigsaw pieces, despite being entirely different colours, still fit perfectly together. (Dan’s would be very black, so black you’d be afraid to touch it, while Phil’s would be a range of different blues that would make the piece seem vibrant and alive).

Or maybe it’s simply because their souls fit together and are imperfectly perfect. They are soulmates in the purest form of the word.  

“We’re still just us. Nerds with butterfingers and ultra clumsiness,” Dan says and squeeze Phil a little tighter. Under normal circumstances, he’d have broken the embrace long ago but he doesn’t want to right now. He knows Phil won’t mind.

“Obviously. Do you think we’ll be best friends forever?” Phil asks, very well knowing he’s reframing a question Dan got on DailyBooth a long time ago but he wants to hear Dan say the lame answer he gave back then that brought so much joy to Phil’s heart.

Dan pulls back just enough for Phil to see his sarcastic eye roll. However, his advanced sarcasm doesn’t hide the small smile playing on his lips.

“That’s the plan.” 

**Author's Note:**

> This was my very first attempt at writing phanfic. I wrote it last autumn and since I've slowly been writing more and more of things with the two awkward and tall Brits. 
> 
> Originally posted on Tumblr and Wattpad. I'm @secretlywritingstories (my writing blog) and @natigail (my main) on Tumblr and @SecretNRB on Wattpad if you want to see more writing that isn't posed on here. I'm new to AO3. 
> 
> Any and all feedback is very appreciated and I hope you enjoyed reading it.


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